


To All the Pilots I've Loved Before

by SirFangirl



Category: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018), Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, To All The Boys I Loved Before AU, also i finally learned the name of matt's girlfriend and she's apparently an android, broken-up allurance, everyone is in the Galaxy Garrison, i'm taking the most barebone elements of the tatbilb plot and putting it in this fic, this a voltron/pidgance fic first and a tatbilb au second, which reminds me to tell you that everyone is human here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-20 02:52:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17014224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirFangirl/pseuds/SirFangirl
Summary: Katie never really liked messing with romance; a girl like her wouldn't have the time or patience. However, sometimes she'll find herself so infatuated with a guy that she doesn't know what to do. When that happens, though, she writes a letter to let those feelings out and stores it in a folder in her email inbox.One day, the letters get out.





	1. The Letters

Every year, students of the Galaxy Garrison get certain holidays off. Included in these holidays is Liberty Day, which is meant to celebrate the end of World War III. Garrison students get the week of Liberty Day off, and many students go home for that week.

Katie Holt has two days left before she has to go back to the Garrison. She ignores that thought, choosing to focus on the movie she and her brother, Matt, are watching.

"Seriously? She ends up with _him_?" Katie exclaims. 

"She is kissing him right now," Matt quips.

"There was no build-up!"

"They showed he had a crush on her in the first movie."

"But she showed no interest in him. Besides, the first movie showed it was a crush that was more idealizing than real love." Katie crosses her arms, "Are they going to stop kissing? Gah, no wonder why everyone hated this movie." 

"Who should they have ended up with, then?" 

Katie points to the female character. "She should have been with the captain. And he," she points to the male character, "should have learned to overcome his insecurities before getting in a relationship with anyone." 

"In this essay you will..." Matt jokes, which earns a small chuckle from Katie. 

The characters in the movie stop kissing. "Okay, can we end this garbage fire now?" Katie wonders.

Matt presses a button on the remote. "Nope, we still have twenty minutes left," he says, earning a frustrated groan from Katie. 

"Whatever." Katie turns on her phone so she can play a puzzle game and notices the time. "Shouldn't you be going to bed?" 

"Nah. I'm waiting for a call from Seven." 

"Oh, okay. Tell her I said hi." 

"I will." Matt looks over at Katie, "Is that movie really bothering you?" 

"Well, it's not that. I don't want to go back to the Garrison yet." 

"Is it that bad there?" 

"Kind of. My teachers? Annoying. My classmates? Annoying. My co-pilots?" 

"Annoying?" 

"Well, just one of them." Katie crosses her arms, "I don't get to bring half of my research with me, and my dorm's bed sucks compared to the one here." 

"Yeah, I could never get used to those Garrison beds." Matt nudges Katie's shoulder, "But hey, the Garrison is the best for what you want to do. You'll make it." 

"It feels like high school there," Katie admits. Matt knows that she's referring to her high school classmates shunning her or making fun of her. 

"Well, tell your Garrison classmates that you have a big brother who's super ripped and will beat them up for making you feel sad," he says.

"Matt, they know who you are. They pass by your picture everytime they go to the flight simulators." 

"Oh. They have a picture of me?" 

"You haven't seen it?" 

"No. They could have told me about it." 

"I'll send you a picture of it when I get back." 

"You better. I want to know if it's a good picture of me." 

Katie snorts, "Oh, please." 

* * *

Sometime after the movie ended, Katie finally retreated to her room. She feels particularly cold tonight, even though it's August. After grabbing a hoodie, Katie goes to her bed. She turns on her laptop, not ready to sleep yet, and browses on it. Not quite sure what led her to it, Katie opens up a folder in her email titled "Letters." In it are four drafts addressed to four different email addresses. 

Katie thinks that romance is something she doesn't need to bother with right now. However, human nature makes her have...  _feelings_ for certain boys. Since she isn't going to embarrass herself by acting on those feelings, she instead vents them through emails she never sends. Katie looks through the emails. 

The first one is for a boy from middle school named Jeremy. He was in Robotics with Katie. Thinking about it now, Katie doesn't know why she liked him. The kid towered over her- and most of the robotics club, for that matter- but the Katie who wrote the letter seemed to like it. She also gushed about Jeremy's letting her use some wiring for her project.

The next boy is Klaus, a foreign exchange student who attended Katie's high school the year before she left for the Garrison. Klaus was alright, from what Katie remembers about him. In her letter to him, Katie talks about how he can keep up with her science talk, something none of her classmates could do. She also really liked his hair. 

The other boy is Lance, also a guy she met in the Garrison. When she first met Lance, she found him cute although a bit overbearing. In her letter, Katie gushed about how tall he is and how his eyes have golden specks in them (they really don't). She also liked how they made a good team and his piloting skills. Of course, that was written before Katie started finding Lance's jokes and showboating annoying. It was also before Lance started dating Allura, an upperclassman, and couldn't resist showing off his relationship every day. Katie wasn't surprised when they broke up. 

The last boy is James Griffin. He's also in the Garrison with Katie. They didn't talk much at first, but they bonded soon enough over their being the top of their class (they still debate over who's the best of the best). In her letter to James, Katie praised how smart he is and how he didn't mind Katie's nerdy ramblings. His looks were perfect- perfect eyes, perfect jawline, perfect hair, perfect height, perfect ears (ears? Who wrote that? Allura?). Although much of her letter to James was just Katie idealizing him, some of the things she said about him still apply. However, despite the feelings that resurface every so often, Katie won't pursue a relationship with James. He's one of the few friends Katie has here, and why ruin an already good thing?

Katie exits her email inbox and closes her laptop. Her eyelids are growing heavy, and it's what makes Katie decide to turn off most of the many string lights in her room and snuggles up under her covers, hoping she won't have nightmares about not getting the extra credit on a test.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (if you're disappointed by season eight and are hiding in AUs clap your hands *clap clap*)  
> (I'm making this AU fic because I saw shallura fanart with this concept and I thought "what about plance?" so yeah) (I'm not going to recreate the entire movie with the voltron characters, but I will keep many of the basic plot elements in here)  
> (kudos and comments (esp comments) are appreciated)


	2. Back to the Garrison

Colleen and Sam Holt are the kind of parents who like to take pictures of every moment. That includes taking a family picture before Katie and Sam head back to the Garrison and Matt heads back to the lunar colony he's been working at since the Kerberos mission. Katie doesn't mind these photo ops, except for when her dad takes forever trying to take the picture. 

"Dad, we're going to miss the ride back to the Garrison," Katie complains. 

"We're driving there, Katie," Sam states, confused by his daughter's complaint. 

"Well, Matt will miss his flight to the moon. Right, Matt?" 

"Eh..." Matt checks his watch, "I still have time." Katie rolls her eyes at him. "Oh, relax, Pidge, we'll get this picture taken soon enough." 

"Also, I've been to space. If I can do that, I can work this camera." The camera's timer starts to go off, and Sam rushes to his spot. "Say binary." 

"Binary!" the Holts chime, smiling for the camera. The camera goes off with a flash. 

* * *

Garrison students and instructors fill the halls that were nearly-deserted over break. It's the first day back, but everyone's expected to continue business as usual. Therefore, students are going to have to catch up with their friends on the way to class. Katie's friend, Hunk, is doing that right now. 

"Oh, and Shay and I made kopai together- oh, it was so good. You should have tried it." 

"Uh-huh." 

"So, what'd you do, Pidge?" 

"Stayed inside and watched movies," she answers, which earns a confused look from Hunk, "and played on my computer." 

"Sounds like a riveting time," Hunk quips. 

"Ha-ha." Katie stops when she sees the picture of Matt that hangs on the hallway walls. She takes out her phone and snaps a picture of it. 

"What'd you do that for?" 

"I told Matt they have a picture of him here, and he said to send it to him." 

"Did he forget we can't text here?" 

"Psh, texting?" Katie scoffs. 

"Oh, right." Hunk is remembering that Katie has a device that is most definitely contraband that she uses to chat with her brother and mom. "You can send pictures on that?" he asks quietly. 

"Yeah. It's kind of a pain to do, though." 

Suddenly, Katie feels someone budging in between her and Hunk and draping his arm around her shoulders. "Hey, guys!" Lance greets cheerily. "Hunk, Pidgeon, how'd your breaks go?" 

"Lance, it's Pidge, not Pidgeon," Katie remarks with a roll of her eyes. "We've been over this multiple times." 

"Oh, come on, Pidge, I know. I'm not an idiot." 

As the three continue to walk, Katie notices Lance's face fall. She follows where he's looking to see Allura walking against the crowd. Allura's walking with Shiro, a pilot at the Garrison and a former member of the Kerberos mission. It seems like Allura won't notice Lance, but she does and gives him a small smile and a wave before going back to her conversation with Shiro. 

"Hey, Lance," Hunk says, trying to distract Lance, "what'd you do over break?" 

"Oh, uh..." Lance pauses, "Oh! I went wakeboarding. It was crazy!" And Lance goes on talking about his wakeboarding adventures, which Katie haphazardly listens to.

* * *

The cafeteria in the Garrison is in a separate building from the main one, as the amount of students and staff equals a cafeteria that is too large for the main building. It's quite overwhelming seeing almost every member of the Garrison in one place. It certainly is for Katie, at least. Her small stature makes it easy for other non-vertically-challenged people to bump into her, and she doesn't have Hunk with her to shield her from those spatially-unaware people. In fact, Katie doesn't know where Hunk is, and her table's been stolen from her by a few older Garrison students. So, Katie resolves to find somewhere else to eat, knowing that nobody will see her leave the cafeteria. 

* * *

The track field adjacent to the cafeteria is meant for students to keep up their physiques, but the bleachers next to the field also make for a good place to eat lunch. This place isn't Katie's favorite place in the Garrison, but all of the other places she likes are too far. Eating a carrot, Katie considers taking out her laptop and trying to send that photo to Matt, but she doesn't when she sees James Griffin approaching the bleachers.

"Hey," Katie greets.

"Did you get shoved out of the cafeteria again?" James questions jokingly. 

"Very funny, James." 

"This seat taken?" 

"Yeah, clearly," Katie snarks. She grabs one of her carrots and holds it out. "Do you want a carrot?" 

"Give me a carrot." James takes the carrot and bites off a chunk of it. "So, how was your break?" 

"Mm, fine. Matt got to come home, so the whole Holt family was back." 

"That's good."

"Yeah, he didn't know about that picture they have of him hanging in the hallway to the flight sims. I told him I'd send a picture of it."

"With your contraband communication device?" James questions with a playfully haughty tone.

Katie groans, "You sound like Iverson. Or maybe Sanda." 

"You sure?" James is a bit of a stickler for the rules and expects his peers to follow them as well, but he can make exceptions, especially for Katie. 

"Maybe." 

Katie tries her best to not stare at James, but he looks so... pretty.  _Maybe it's the sunlight_ , she tells herself, but it doesn't dissuade how she feels. The urge to say something- to flirt- with James is there inside Katie, but she doesn't do dating, only crushes- really, really big crushes. Also, there are other things that complicate Katie's situation. 

"So, did Ina tell you she was gonna do it?" James asks. 

"No, she didn't." 

"Oh." 

James and Ina Leifsdottir were a couple. Katie knows Ina through James, and she became a good friend to Katie. To Katie, Ina and James seemed like a good couple regardless of Katie's feelings for James; so when she told her and Rizavi they broke up, Katie was pretty surprised. However, Ina never really elaborated on why they broke up. 

"Do you know why she broke up with you?" 

"She said she needed space." James sighs, running his hand through his hair, "Maybe I was too clingy." 

"You're not clingy. It's not your fault that she wants space." 

"Yeah, that's what everyone's been telling me." 

"I'm sorry, James." 

"It's okay." 

No matter how intense Katie's feelings are, she wouldn't date James. It'd be a terrible thing to do to Ina and to James, as Katie doesn't need eyes to see that he wants Ina back. So, she has to accept that being friends with James is what's best.

"Hey, do you want to hear something funny that Bae Bae did over break?" Katie asks, knowing that funny dog stories always cheer James up.

"What'd he do this time?"

"You know how he really likes cottage cheese?"

Katie continues telling her story about her dog getting into a container of cottage cheese, and the amused smile on James's face is enough to make her feel okay with not being able to date him.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (chapter two is done! yay!)   
> (thank you everyone who's read/kudosed/commented on this fic, i really appreciate it)  
> (i actually watched the movie after i posted the first chapter, so now i have a better understanding of the plot)   
> (also, apparently james/ina is a rarepair, so you know what i had to do it to em)  
> (once again, feel free to drop a comment or kudos)


	3. Katie Holt Knows How to Drive

"What do you mean you were upstairs?" 

"I was! I was waving at you." 

"Okay, but upstairs is super high up, and it's a fact that people rarely ever look up." 

Hunk and Pidge are walking through the parking lot by the cafeteria to the ATVs. Since the Garrison's campus is huge and in the desert, students and faculty can carpool in the ATVs scattered throughout to prevent them from being late for class or from passing out due to heat stroke. Katie and Hunk approach one, and Katie quickly gets into the driver's seat. 

"Really?" Hunk questions. 

"I know how to drive, Hunk," Katie retorts, "now, hop in." 

Hunk reluctantly gets in the passenger seat, and he reaches behind him to grab a helmet from the backseat. No one ever uses these helmets unless they're going out into the dunes or one Katie Holt is driving.

"Oh, come on!"

"Safety first," Hunk quips, sliding the helmet on.

Katie rolls her eyes as she starts the ATV and puts it in reverse.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" someone calls out from outside. Katie gasps and slams on the breaks when she sees Lance in the rearview mirror.

"Good thing I wore this," Hunk states, patting his helmet. 

Katie would say something back, but she's too busy trying to process the awkwardness of almost hitting someone. Lance approaches the driver's side.

"Hey, Pidge."

"Hi."

"You know, most people check behind them before reversing so they don't kill people."

"Uh-huh."

"Do you need help getting out of the parking lot?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Cool."

"You need a ride, Lance?" Hunk asks, more joking than asking an actual question.

"Uh," Lance looks around and sees everyone sectioning of with their cliques and leaving in their ATVs, "sure." He climbs into the backseat. Katie doesn't take off just yet.

"What are we waiting for?" Lance questions. 

"The rest of the ATVs to leave," Katie answers. 

* * *

When the other vehicles do leave, Katie, Hunk, and Lance make their way to their physics class. 

"Where were you guys at during lunch today?" Hunk asks over the sound of the ATV running through the terrain. 

"I went to the track field," Katie answers. "James was there, too." 

"Griffin?" Lance interjects. 

"Yeah, James Griffin had lunch with me." 

"Why wasn't he with Leifsdottir?" 

"They broke up." 

"Oh." 

The ATV rolls over a pothole and rattles everyone inside. 

"Whoa! What are you doing, Pidge?" Lance complains. He scrambles for a nearby helmet and secures it onto his head.

"Don't blame me! The Garrison's supposed to be so advanced, and yet they still use asphalt for the roads."

"So," Hunk cuts in loudly, trying to steer the conversation elsewhere, "where'd you go to, Lance?" 

"Oh, uh, I sat at Allura's table." 

"What?" Hunk and Katie say simultaneously. 

"What?" Lance repeats in confusion. 

"Dude, how are you gonna move on if you still have lunch with her?" 

"Geez, Hunk, it's not like I'm gonna marry her if I sit at her table!" 

"But you aren't going to move on if you don't give yourself some space from her." 

Lance sighs. "Alright," he mutters. 

Katie looks in the rearview mirror and sees Lance stretched out across the backseat. The look on his face makes Katie wonder if he really wants to move on from Allura at all. 

* * *

It's finally the weekend, which means that the Garrison students can actually leave campus! 

Well, sort of. 

The closest town to the Garrison is a twenty-minute drive, and everyone's expected to be in their dorms before their nine o'clock curfew. The town in question is also a college town, and although there are things to do in college towns, most of them are for those of legal drinking age. Therefore, most students stay in the Garrison and come up with their own forms of fun. However, some are willing to make the grand journey out to the college town. 

* * *

Every other weekend, Hunk will head up to town to see his girlfriend, Shay. Shay's a geology major at Aremlab University, but she lives in a small but cozy house off-campus. Today, Hunk and Shay are continuing their binge watch of a new show they found, and Katie's joined them, too. Of course, Hunk won't start the show unless he's made something to eat that's better than Garrison cafeteria food. Shay helps him out while Katie sits at the island counter and watches. 

"Hey, honey, can you hand me the honey?" Hunk asks with a cheeky smile. 

Shay laughs as she grabs the bottle of honey, "Sure thing, but only if you can come up with better wordplay than that." 

"I'll try." Hunk takes the honey and gives Shay a quick kiss in thanks. 

Katie can't help but feel a bit of wistfulness from that moment between Hunk and Shay. She wonders if she'll ever get to experience that kind of domestic bliss with someone. 

_Maybe with James._

Katie shakes the thought from her mind. 

"How come Lance didn't come?" Shay asks, which gives Katie something else to focus on. 

"Uh, he said he had some physics homework he wanted to work on, but I heard that the upperclassmen are having a party in the Conservatory, so he's probably there to see if Allura's there." 

"Oh, boy." 

"Yeah, I keep telling him to move on, but there's only so much I can do." 

"I know. I do miss going on double dates with those two." 

"Same here." 

Shay casts a teasing glance at Kaite, "Maybe we can find someone for Katie and go on double dates with them." 

Katie sputters at the tease. "I don't need a boyfriend." 

"Well, yeah," Shay begins, "technically, no one 'needs' a boyfriend, but that doesn't mean it isn't nice to have one." Almost on cue, Hunk wraps his arm that isn't involved in cooking around Shay's waist and brings her close, which earns a light chukcle from Shay. 

Katie considers Shay's words. She's probably right about what she said, but it's not what Katie wants to hear. If anything, it only makes the feelings she has for James grow more. 

"Alright," Hunk says as he serves the food onto three plates, "we got the carrots, the chicken, and the cranberry-walnut side salad. I think we're ready to watch Mirror Queen."

"Mirror Queen!" Pidge cheers. She grabs her plate and heads over to the couch in the living room. For now, the show will be enough to distract her from her crush. 

* * *

A few episodes later, and Shay and Hunk are asleep on the couch. Katie will have to wake Hunk up soon so they won't miss curfew, but she'll do that when she's done talking to Matt through video chat. After all, phone calls with Matt don't occur as often as Katie would like, and she can't use her communication device all the time. 

"How's Seven doing?" Katie asks, making sure to not speak too loud.

"She's doing good," Matt answers, his voice sounding through Katie's earbuds. "She's right here, actually." Matt turns his phone, and Katie sees Seven waving at her. 

"Hi, Katie," Seven greets. 

"Hey, Sevs." 

"So, I got that picture you sent me," Matt says, turning the phone back to him, "I should've known they'd use that picture I took before Kerberos. I looked like a baby back then." 

Katie chuckles, "Yeah, kind of." 

"How's it going at the Garrison? Got a cute boyfriend yet?"

"Matt, I've only been back there for a week," Katie states in exasperation. 

"I'm just teasing," Matt defends with a chuckle. 

"Well, you aren't the first one. Shay was saying that she and Hunk should find someone for me." 

Matt snickers at that, "Well, they probably aren't terrible matchmakers." 

"Well, I don't want to be matchmade or whatever." 

"How come?" Matt asks. Katie doesn't answer, and a surprised look appears on Matt's face. "Katie Holt, do you have a crush on someone?"

"Matt!" Katie exclaims through gritted teeth. 

"Who is it?" 

"I'm not telling you. It wouldn't work out, anyway." 

"You don't know that." 

"Yes, I do," Katie states with a roll of her eyes. 

"Pidge, if I let myself think that, I wouldn't have ended up with Seven." Matt turns the camera to Seven, "Right, babe?" 

"I mean, I guess," Seven responds.

"Yeah, exactly," Matt adds, the camera back on his face. "Hey, you remember what Mom said she did when she asked Dad out?"

Katie does, in fact, remember. Her mom wrote a letter to her dad, and it may or may not have been the inspiration for Katie's letter-writing. "I'm not writing a letter."

"It worked for Mom."

"Yeah, well, that's Mom." Katie turns on her side, and she notices the time. "Oh, shoot."

"Time to go?"

"Yeah, Hunk and I can't miss curfew," Katie says as she gets up.

"Okay. Get some sleep tonight; don't stay up all night worrying about your crush."

"Very funny, Matt." Katie moves to where Hunk is sitting and nudges him. Hunk wakes up slowly.

"I know. I'm quite the comedian," Matt jokes, "I'll call you as soon as I can, alright?"

"Alright," Katie says as she starts grabbing her things. 

"Bye, Katie," Seven chimes in. 

"Later, Sevs."

"Love you, sis," Matt says. 

"Love you, too." 

Katie takes out her earbuds when Matt hangs up and slips her phone into her coat pocket. "Come on, Hunk, we don't wanna miss curfew." 

"I know," Hunk says groggily. He carefully gets out of Shay's grasp. However, Shay still starts to wake up. "I gotta go. Love you," Hunk whispers to her with a quick kiss to her forehead. After Hunk grabs his stuff, he and Katie leave Shay's house to head back to the Garrison. 

* * *

Back in her room at the Garrison, Katie sits in her bed with her laptop on. Onscreen is her email inbox with the 'Letters' folder open again. She clicks on her letter to James and starts typing. Katie won't send it, but she'll edit it like she will. Hopefully, this will help her quell her feelings for James, and Katie can live her life without drama.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (hooray, another chapter is done)   
> (fun fact i was going to have matt call seven nadia since that's what her name really is in this story but since he came up with the pidge nickname in canon i figured he was gonna be the kind of nicknames)   
> (hunk and shay are the purest couple and they will make you soft you can't change my mind)   
> (kinda worried someone's gonna accuse me of plagiarism because i use lines from the movie here but it's fine :))  
> (Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! feel free to leave kudos or comments as a gift to me and thanks for reading!)


	4. Drama at the Track Field

P.E. is not Katie's favorite class; the only exercising she wants to do is brain exercising. However, the Garrison says she can't be an effective space explorer if she's not in shape. She and Hunk run around the track field. They may not be in last place, but they definitely aren't in first. Some of those who are ahead are basically running laps around Hunk and Katie, and they'll make that apparent with some teasing comments. 

"Yeah, well, I'd like to see him repair a ship engine without the instructions," Katie grumbles. 

"Hey, just think, if you were on some mission with him and your ship crashed and there're aliens coming for you, he can be the bait because he runs fast." 

"I guess."

"Hey! Can I talk to you?" Lance's voice cuts in.

Katie and Hunk stop running as Lance approaches them. "Hey, Lance," Hunk begins, "I thought you're supposed to be in study hall?"

"Yeah, I said I had a migraine. Look, I need to talk to Pidge... alone." 

"Okay," Hunk says in confusion, "I guess I'll just go back to... running, then." 

Lance waits for Hunk to get out of earshot before looking down at Katie. "So, uh, I appreciate it, but it's not going to happen." 

"Huh?" 

"I mean, it's nice that you say I have golden specks in my eyes- which is weird because my eyes are blue." 

 _Oh no._  

"But I'm kinda in a weird place with Allura right now." 

Suddenly, the world feels like its spinning around Katie. 

"I guess it's the Loverboy Lance effect, but I don't really know what inspired you to- whoa!" 

Katie barely feels herself drop to the ground. 

"Pidge?" 

The letters are out. Somehow, all four letters left their containment in Katie's email inbox and fell straight into the inboxes of their sort-of-intended recipients.

"Pidge? Pidge!"

Katie slowly opens her eyes. The world comes into focus, and she sees Lance hunched over her. "What happened?"

"You fainted." 

"Oh." 

"Need help?" 

"Yeah, sure." 

Lance stands up and holds out his hand, "Here." Katie grabs his hand, and Lance carefully helps her up. "And there you go. Do you need some water or anything?"

"No, I'm fine," Katie answers, trying not to focus on Lance. That becomes easy when she sees someone walking to the field. 

James carries his phone in his hand and a dumbfounded look on his face. Clearly, he's gotten Katie's letter. 

"Oh, come on," Katie groans. 

If she were in a rational state of mind, Katie wouldn't do what she's about to do, but there's no room for rationality here. So, she grabs Lance. 

"Whoa, okay," is all Lance can say before Katie kisses him. The kiss lasts for a few seconds before Katie gets up.

"Thank you," she says. 

"That's two more laps for you, Holt!" the coach shouts out. However, Katie would take two extra laps over confronting James any day.  

* * *

The restroom provides a place of solace for Katie as she gets on her phone and checks her email inbox. She doesn't get to the "Letters" folder when she sees two new emails in her inbox. 

The letter to Jeremy from robotics never reached him, as Katie must have typed his address wrong. This is probably the silver lining in this catastrophe.

Klaus responds kindly, noticing that this is something personal to Katie. However, he does end his letter asking if Katie knew he was gay (she didn't).

Katie wants to scream, but her day would be worse if someone got onto her for screaming in the restroom. 

* * *

When her classes are over, Katie retreats to her dorm room. She's spent the past half hour trying to figure out how the letters got out, but she can't find any evidence. So, Katie resorts to lying on her bed and thinking of the possible ways she can damage control this situation. 

The door to Katie's room opens, and one of her roommates enters. Ina Leifsdottir sits unceremoniously on her bed.

A wave of panic runs through Katie. In all of this mess, she forgot that Ina might find out about this. If she does, then she'll probably think Katie is going after her ex-boyfriend, which is not entirely true.  

"Hey, Pidge," Ina greets as she picks up a book on her nightstand. 

"Hey, Ina," Katie greets in return, trying to sound as relaxed as possible. "Where's Rizavi?" 

Almost on cue, Rizavi enters the room, carrying some supplies in her arms. "Hey, guys. Ina, you ready to work on that history project?"

"Mhm," Ina mutters as she gets up and helps Rizavi with the supplies. 

"Hey, Pidge," Rizavi begins, "hope you don't mind, but James and Kinkade are coming over to work on our project. Oh, also, James said he wanted to talk to you." 

"Oh, really? Uh, well, I have to get going," Katie scrambles out of her bed and starts quickly grabbing her things, "so I can start working on my project." She starts to head to the door when someone lightly knocks on it. 

"Somebody wanna open the door? We kinda have full hands here," James calls from outside. 

"Just a minute!" Rizavi calls back. 

Katie racks her brain for a way out, and that's when she notices the single window in her shared room. She rushes to it and jumps up to the window. 

"Uh, Pidge?" Rizavi asks. 

Katie manages to climb into the windowsill and opens up the window. "You never saw me," she says before jumping out of the window. Rizavi and Ina hear a faint crash and a small "ow" from Katie soon after. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (i present to you another chapter! this one's kind of short, but i hope that's not a bother)  
> (low key i'm kind of worried about getting accused of plagiarizing tatbilb but it's fine :)))))  
> (but anyways thank you for reading and don't forget to drop a kudos or comment :)))

**Author's Note:**

> (if you're disappointed by season eight and are hiding in AUs clap your hands *clap clap*)  
> (I'm making this AU fic because I saw shallura fanart with this concept and I thought "what about plance?" so yeah) (I'm not going to recreate the entire movie with the voltron characters, but I will keep many of the basic plot elements in here)  
> (kudos and comments (esp comments) are appreciated)


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